--Against Stalinist revisionism--

In Defense of Marxism-Leninism

On Problems in the Orientation
of the International Communist Movement
in the Period from the End of World War II
to the Death of Stalin

. The May 1, 1984 issue of The Workers' Advocate is now available here in its entirety as a PDF
pamphlet. It's been a quarter of a century since this 126-page pamphlet first appeared, but the
subjects it deals with remain of interest. The mistaken views and practices that spread in the communist
movement in the decade following World War II still influence the working class movement
today.

Introduction of April 2009

On the roots of present-day revisionist errors in the earlier stands in the post-World War II
period

Soviet Leaders on the World Situation (1945-1954)

Notes on Zhdanov's Speech to the Founding of the Cominform (September 1947)

On the Pacifist Policy of the World Peace Congress (1949-1954)

On the orientation of the French Communist Party from 1944-1956

On "the British Road to Socialism" (1951): the Petty-Bourgeois Nationalist Program of the
British CP

Introduction to the April 2009 PDF edition

.

. The May 1, 1984 issue of The Workers' Advocate, which is now being made available on the
Internet in a PDF edition, was a large pamphlet of 126 pages, which dealt with the line of the
Soviet-led section of the international communist movement in the immediate post-world war II
period. It covered the period of Stalin's leadership, up to his death in 1953, and analyzed the
views of Soviet leaders, the Cominform, various European parties, and the CPUSA. It showed
the revisionist nature of these views. The corrupt orientation of abandoning revolutionary work
in the capitalist countries, and the other rotten practices which were at one time thought to
originate in Khrushchovite revisionism, were already being championed by the Stalinist
leadership of this time. The pamphlet illustrated how superficial was the supposed repudiation at
that time of Browderism and other liquidationist views, views which had led not only to the
temporary dissolution of the CPUSA in 1944, but to the elimination of the revolutionary content
of the agitation of many parties that called themselves communist.

. The pamphlet regarded these practices as major weaknesses and seriously mistaken practices in
a world movement that was still genuinely communist. At the time this document was prepared,
although the Marxist-Leninist Party was polemicizing against the mistaken orientations of the
Stalinists, it still thought that socialism was being built in the USSR during the post-war period
and right up until the Khrushchovite regime that came about soon after Stalin's death. It still
thought that it was under Khrushchov that socialism was first replaced with state-capitalism.
Further theoretical work and study of Soviet history by the MLP and, later, the Communist Voice
Organization led to the conclusions that the historic Bolshevik revolution of 1917 had begun
fading away sometime in the 1920s, and that not a socialist system, but a state-capitalist one, was
built up in the USSR in the 1930s. Thus in the post-World War II period the Soviet Union was
not a socialist country, but a capitalist one, albeit with a new form of capitalism. This was the
economic base for Stalinism being a new form of revisionism; and it's why the Soviet regime
became oppressive.

. So, if this document were rewritten today, it would not just criticize various of their policies,
but draw a class line against the Soviet leadership of that time, and condemn the state-capitalist
tyranny practiced by revisionism. Indeed, since the May, 1984 issue of The Workers' Advocate,
we have learned more about various of the betrayals and brutalities of the state-capitalist
leadership, such as the mass deportation of the entire Chechen people and of several other small
nationalities and the methods of subjugating other parties and countries. A rewriting of this
document would sharply bring out the contradictions resulting from a communist movement,
comprising the main forces of the class-conscious proletariat in various countries, that looked to
a hostile class force, the Stalinist leadership of the state-capitalist bourgeoisie in the Soviet
Union, as its standard-bearer. And it would also be enriched with a deeper discussion of
communist tactics, making use of the further experience and theoretical study since that time by
the MLP, and then the Communist Voice Organization.

. Nevertheless, the pamphlet gave a good picture of the general framework for political work in
capitalist countries being set forward in the world communist movement at that time. It didn't
just describe the MLP's opinion of what was going on in the post-World War II period, but
provided extensive documentation from the writings of the CPSU and other parties. It was part
of a series of documents in the 1980s with which the MLP brought into the open the issues
worrying the anti-revisionist movement of which it was a part. The MLP took a steadfast stand
against reformist treachery, no matter from what quarter, to the cause of building a militant and
independent working class movement. Even though mistaken on the nature of the Soviet Union
in the post-World War II period and about the system that was eventually built up in Albania, the
MLP held back nothing in providing an historical account of the views and practices of the world
revolutionary movement, as far as it was aware of them. In doing so, the MLP -- in company with
a handful of other courageous anti-revisionist groups and individuals around the world -- refused
to be intimidated by various of its one-time friends in certain other parties, and preferred to suffer
protracted isolation than to hide the truth from the activists involved in collective struggle against
capitalist exploitation and tyranny. These matters were discussed by all members and supporters
of the MLP, and it was decided at MLP congresses and national conferences to bring the
discussion, as far as we could, to all the working-class activists and communists of the world.
The MLP's knowledge may have been partial, and its analysis of world communist history a work
in progress, but its commitment was total to developing the anti-revisionist struggle as a
conscious activity, not of a handful of knowledgeable people, but of the mass of communist
activists and workers.

. The issues raised by these documents have remained issues in the left-wing movement till this
day. They concern such matters as the struggle against the threat of imperialist war, the attitude
that the activists in imperialist countries should take to the national liberation movement, the
assessment of social-democracy and reformist forces, the stand towards the class-collaborationist
labor bureaucracy, whether to adapt one's agitation to petty-bourgeois nationalist prejudices,
whether to see the class nature of the entire bourgeoisie or pretend that only a small ultra-right
section was responsible for the war-drive and other bourgeois crimes, and whether communist
parties should join bourgeois governments. If one wants to take part in building a revolutionary
working-class movement, it isn't sufficient to simply know that the communist movement was
subordinated to state-capitalist Stalinist regimes, and that this helped corrupt it. One still has to
know what the correct orientation for communist activity is. If all one knows about what is
wrong with the views given in the post-World War II period is that the movement was
subordinated to the Soviet leadership, then one knows very little about how to build the
working-class movement. One can't simply answer the question of what to do by saying "just be
sure, whatever you decide, not to be subordinated to the views and motives of this or that
Stalinist regime or official". Trotskyism acts in this way and devotes so much effort to
generalities about "socialism in one country" because it doesn't really have a good idea of what's
wrong with Stalinism: underneath its misleading rhetorical slogans, its views have much in
common with Stalinism. (See "An Outline of Trotskyism's Anti-Marxist Theories", at
www.communistvoice.org/00TrotskyOutline.html, for an updated and anti-Stalinist critique of
the basic ideas of Trotskyism.)

. As well, the study of the erroneous post-World War II orientation underlines the need to carry
forward the anti-revisionist struggle to the end. The Stalinist-dominated movement sometimes
claimed to be fighting revisionism; the Cominform often put on a "left" pose in its denunciations
of imperialism; and a show was made of upholding Leninist theory. But this was pretense. It isn't
sufficient to be satisfied with the milquetoast anti-revisionism of the CPUSA's reconstitution in
1945, that reversed its dissolution in 1944 by Browder, or with the Maoist assessment of the
world communist movement. A careful study of world communist history shows the need to
uphold the real standpoint of Marx, Engels, and Lenin against the contortions of Stalinist
revisionism. And it is also necessary for activists today to further develop communist theory by
taking account of the experience of a century of mass struggle and revolutionary organizing since
Lenin's death, analyzing new developments in the economic and political situation of the world,
and dealing with the new questions of our day.

. This pamphlet's coverage of the communist movement of that time was, however,
geographically limited. It dealt mainly with the Soviet, French, British, and American parties; the
Cominform; and the World Peace Congress. Aside from some remarks about the Maoists, it did
not deal with the Asian, Latin American, Australian, and African parties. This is not because the
MLP regarded these other parties and movements as unimportant; on the contrary, the pamphlet
discussed and sharply condemned the general lack of interest of Stalin and various parties in the
national liberation movements and other revolutionary struggles of the oppressed peoples outside
Europe. Instead this limited coverage was for the sake of bringing into sharp focus the views and
practices most closely associated with Stalin and the Cominform.

Joseph Green, editor, Communist Voice
April 6, 2009

Table of Contents

* Introduction of April 2009

* Introduction: In Defense of the Classic Teachings of
Marxism-Leninism

--We Must Work Hard to Strengthen the International Marxist-Leninist Movement
--The Relation of the Post-World War II Period to the Present Weaknesses in the Stands of the
Party of Labor of Albania
--The Post-World War II Period versus the Classic Teachings of Marxism-Leninism
--The Post-World War II Period and the Chinese Communist Party
--The Traditions of the Post-World War II Period Cannot Serve as the Foundation for the
Struggle Against Soviet Revisionism
--Materials for the Study of the Post-World War II Period in the International Communist
Movement

* From the Resolutions of the Second Congress of the MLP,USA
(Fall, 1983)

--On Problems in the Orientation of the International Communist Movement in the Period from
the End of World War II to the Death of Stalin
--On the Marxist-Leninist classics

* Pre-Congress Discussion Material on the Post-World War II
Period: the Internal Bulletin of March 17, 1983

--Introduction
--The Post-World War II Period in the World Communist Movement
--The General Orientation on Various Key Issues Was Wrong
--On the Assessment of the Post-World War II Period
--The Legacy of the Post-World War II Period and the Problems in the Struggle Against Soviet Revisionism
--The Evaluation of the Post-World War II Period Has Become One of the Controversies in the
International Marxist-Leninist Movement
--The Latter Part of the 1930's and Some Other Questions
--On the Source Material for the Study of the Post-World War II Period
--Towards the Second Congress

* Notes on Zhdanov's Speech to the Founding
of the Cominform (September 1947)

On Zhdanov's SppechReference Material:
--Excerpts from Zhdanov's Speech
--Declaration on the Founding of the Cominform, 1947
--From "Resolutions of the Meeting of the Cominform", November 1949

* On the Pacifist Policy of the World Peace Congress (1949-1954)

Report on the World Peace CongressReference Material:
--From the Resolution of the 6th Congress of the Communist International on the Struggle
Against Imperialist War (1928) --"Stalin on the War Danger and the Possibilities of Averting It,"
by I.A. Seleznev

On the orientation of the French Communist Party from 1944-1956

--Introduction
--1. The General Line
--2. National Independence
--3. The Peace Movement
--4. The Colonial Wars: a) Viet Nam, b) West Africa, Equatorial Africa and Madagascar; c)
North Africa
--5. The French Army
--6, Opposition Within the FCPReference Material:
--Excerpts from "The French Communist Party in the Struggle for the Independence of the
Country, Against American Expansionism", by Jacques Duclos
--Excerpts from "The Struggle of French communists for Prohibition of Atomic Weapons", by
Etienne Fajon, a member of the Politbureau of the FCP
--Excerpts from "HIstoric Example of October revolution and Middle Strata", by Jacques Duclos

On "the British Road to Socialism" (1951): the Petty-Bourgeois
Nationalist Program of the British CP

Report on the British CPReference Material:
--Excerpts from the "The British Road to Socialism," the 1951 Program of the British CP
--An excerpt from "People's Democracy as a Form of Political Organization of Society", by A.
Sobolev, which endorses the "British Road to Socialism" as a model

The CPUSA's Liberal-Labor Approach to the Critique of Browder

--The Revolutionary Perspective is Lost Sight of
--The Fundamental Criticism of Browder
--Everyone is for "National Unity"
--The Hoax of Opposition to the Monopolies
--The Duclos ArticleReference Material:
--Excerpts from "On the Dissolution of the CPUSA" by Jacques Duclos